Gaming in School Libraries

Chris Harris & Scott Nicholson have me really excited. If you’re not familiar with their research I highly suggest you check it out. It’s funny that these two guys have finally crossed paths. Scott was my professor (one of the best) at the iSchool at Syracuse in the early 2000’s and Chris heads up the neighboring School Library Systems at GV BOCES.

Chris and Scott are heading up an initiative to introduce and study the concept of gaming and its place in libraries. Naturally, as a school librarian I am interested. If libraries are true to form and they exist to serve their users, then gaming in school libraries is a fit. Now I’m not going to get too carried away, saying that a large percentage of a school libraries function should be to serve gamers, that’s why arcades and home platforms exist, but what if 25% of the budget, the facility, and the schedule including personnel for a school library were geared towards the gaming experience?

In listening to Scott’s presentation at the Bird Library on Gaming in Libraries, I find it alarming that we are losing our teens as library users at such an important age. Gaming as a part of a user-rich experience might help bring some of our YA’s back.

Chris Harris has taken AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner and aligned them with the basic ideas and skills that make up gaming. This is brilliant. And to take this idea a step further, what if on the front cover of every game, right next to the ESRB label sat another label. An even BIGGER label. On that label would be the top learning standards that the game aligns with as a user or users engage in that particular gaming experience.

I could go on further but I’m just starting to dive into this area of research. As I move forward with my career and my highly anticipated tenure review, gaming in school libraries is an avenue in the future that I would love to pursue.